Saturday, March 27, 1999
UH’s Snider
tames HPU
The Rainbows get a big boost
By Al Chase
as their former closer turns in a
stellar starting performance
Star-BulletinRich Snider was challenged before last night's game and the way he responded means more to the Rainbows' future than just being the No. 1 seed in today's semifinal round of the 24th Rainbow Eastern Baseball Tournament.
The challenge increased during the game as his counterpart on the mound for Hawaii Pacific, Eric Bentley, was every bit as effective.
What Snider's performance gives the UH coaches is another option when selecting a starting rotation for the remaining Western Athletic Conference games.
The difference in Hawaii's 3-1 victory last night was the 'Bows making two of their three hits count while the Sea Warriors didn't produce the key hit before 2,648 fans at Rainbow Stadium.
It will be instant replay tonight when UH and HPU meet in one semifinal at 6:37. Nittaidai plays Fresno State in the other semifinal at 2:30 p.m.
Snider, a 5-foot-10, 182-pound right-hander and Seminole State's (Okla.) best starter last season, began 1999 as the Rainbows' closer. He was successful for a time, but gave up three-run, game-winning home runs in his last two outings, both conference games.
UH head coach Les Murakami felt it was time to test Snider's talents as a starting pitcher.
"We knew he could start and Coach Les challenged him by starting him against the best hitting team in the tournament," said UH pitching coach Carl Furutani. "This was his chance to go out and win a starting job. He was on his game from the beginning."
Unlike some of the UH pitching efforts earlier in the tournament, Snider pitched ahead in the count. He was behind in the count on just one of the eight Sea Warrior hits, backing up Murakami's assertion that, "They know how to hit. Northwestern has more power, but HPU is a pretty good team."
Snider's arsenal includes a fastball, curve, slider and split finger. He said everything was working last night except the split finger,which he struggled with at times.
"After the last two games, I needed this to get my confidence back," Snider said. "I was surprised I didn't get tired but I usually get better as the game goes on. That's why I was surprised when they had me closing."
Another plus was no loss in velocity despite pitching UH's second complete game of the season after rarely working more than two innings a game in the past.
"He maintained the fastball at 89 (mph) right to the end and that's the reason we kept him in there," Murakami said.
Meanwhile, Bentley was twirling his own gem. He gave up a leadoff single to Sean Takamori, then retired 15 consecutive 'Bows with just one ball leaving the infield.
"He was doing a real good job of keeping us off balance. He threw a lot of strikes," said Takamori.
Bentley faltered just once, when UH scored its runs in the sixth. He got behind on Matt Wheeler, who lined a double into the right-field corner.
"That was the key, getting behind," said HPU head coach Allan Sato. "We thought Eric made some key pitches against some key hitters all night."
"I was sitting on a fastball," Wheeler said. "The rest of the night he pretty much owned me."
Darin Baker then was hit by a pitch after fouling off three offerings.
Takamori, whom Murakami had hoped to rest sometime during the tournament, jumped on a 1-1 pitch and drove it deep to right-center field for a two-run triple.
"I was guessing, looking for something off-speed," Takamori said.
"It was a slider down and in. It felt good when I hit it and when I saw the center fielder, I just kept on running."
The Sea Warriors got a run in the seventh, then loaded the bases with one out in the eighth.
Snider's first pitch to Tom Peters was inside and Peters thought he had fouled it off his foot. The ball rolled toward third, where Wheeler fielded, threw to catcher Ken Wakakuwa, who fired to Jamie Aloy at first for a double play.
The Sea Warriors protested it was a foul ball but plate umpire Frank Tomaszewski ruled it fair
"Tom was stunned. He knew it hit him and didn't run," Sato said. "I always tell my guys you only get so many chances.
"So, it was disappointing for me to fight and scratch and to have it taken away even though it wasn't the fault of our guys.
"It came down to the 'Bows capitalizing when they had the chance. Give Sean credit."
Left-hander Jamie Aloy (5-4, 4.07) will start for the Rainbows (20-11) tonight. He will be opposed by HPU (29-8) right-hander Keola McCallum (7-1, 2.03).
Fresno State 15, Hawaii-Hilo 2: Anthony Acevedo had four hits and four Bulldogs drove in two runs each as Fresno State (15-20) beat the Vulcans (6-24) in a game shortened to seven innings by the 12-run rule.
Nittaidai 7, Northwestern 0: The Eagles scored in four of the first five innings and three Nittaidai pitchers held the Wildcats (6-9) to four singles and a double by Robert Dainton. Daigo Nakamura had three hits and three RBIs to pace the Eagles.
24th Easter Baseball Tournament
W L Pct. Hawaii 4 1 .800 Nittaidai 4 1 .800 Hawaii Pacific 2 3 .400 Fresno State 2 3 .400 Northwestern 2 3 .400 Hawaii-Hilo 1 4 .200Today's games
Hilo-Hawaii vs. Northwestern, 11 a.m.
Nittaidai vs. Fresno State, 2:30 p.m.
Hawaii Pacific vs. Hawaii, 6:37 p.m.
Fresno State 15, Hawaii-Hilo 2
Fresno State AB R H BI Hawaii-Hilo AB R H BI Gerber rf 5 0 2 2 Takahashi cf 1 1 0 0 Creighton 2b 4 2 1 0 Johnson rf 0 0 0 0 Acevedo lf 5 3 4 2 Chaves ss 2 0 0 0 Gemoll 1b 5 2 1 2 Kaneshiro ss 0 0 0 0 Prieto dh 5 2 2 1 Yap 2b 3 0 1 0 Guzman cf 3 2 1 1 Sanchez 2b 0 0 0 0 Garcia 3b 4 1 2 2 Wallis 3b 3 0 1 1 Harper c 3 1 2 1 Loque 3b 0 0 0 0 Fanconi ss 3 2 1 1 Yee 1b 3 0 0 0 Yates c 2 1 0 0 Rayl dh 2 0 0 0 Lynch rf 2 0 0 0 Chu rf/cf 1 0 0 1 Miura lf 2 0 1 0 Jinbo lf 1 0 0 0 Park p 1 0 1 0 Totals 37 15 16 12 Totals 23 2 4 2 Fresno State 022 221 6-15 16 1 Hawaii-Hilo 100 000 1-2 4 4E--Fanconi, Sanchez, Wallis, Loque 2. DP--UHH 1. LOB--FSU 10, UHH 4. 2B--Acevedo 2, Guzman. 3B--Acevedo, Garcia, Fanconi. HR--Gemoll. SB--Creighton. CS--Miura. SH--Fanconi, Chaves. SF--Gerber, Guzman.
Fresno State IP H R ER BB SO Moran (W 4-3) 7.0 4 2 2 1 4 Hawaii-Hilo IP H R ER BB SO Agustin (L 1-4) 2.1 7 4 4 0 0 Miyake 1.2 2 2 2 2 1 Sumibcay 2.2 6 6 5 2 0 Park 0.1 1 3 0 1 1WP--Sumibcay. HBP--Takahashi (by Moran), Takahashi (by Moran), Garcia (by Park). Umpires--Ben Ormita (plate), Guy Ogawa (first), Keoki Torres (third). A--352.
Nittaidai 7, Northwestern 0
Nittaidai 102 220 000--7 11 0 Northwestern 100 000 000--0 5 1Yuka Onaka, Tomoyuki Konishi (5), Masanobu Tonouchi (8) and Shinji Umezaki, Shinji Okada; Ben Dodd, Jacob Briskman (6) and Nick Franzese, Aaron Steinke. W--Konishi. L--Dodd.Leading hitters--NITT: Shigeo Amano 2-5, 2rs RBI; Nakatani 2-3, rs, RBI; Nakamura 3-4, rs, 3 RBI; Maruhashi 2-4, rs, 2 RBI. NU: Dainton 2-3.
Hawaii 3, Hawaii Pacific 1
Hawaii Pacific AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Roman cf 4 0 0 0 Takamori cf 3 1 2 2 Clutter 2b 4 0 1 0 Dartt 2b 3 0 0 0 Gerhardt dh 3 0 1 0 Aloy 1b 3 0 0 0 Yanagisawa c 4 0 1 0 Nakano lf 2 0 0 1 Peters lf 3 0 0 0 Honma lf 0 0 0 0 McCallum 1b 4 1 2 0 Wakakuwa c 3 0 0 0 Stith rf 3 0 0 0 Nogawa ss 3 0 0 0 Anzai ph 1 0 0 0 Childers dh 3 0 0 0 Lyons 3b 3 0 2 1 Wheeler 3b 3 1 1 0 Uegawachi ss 3 0 1 0 Baker cf 1 1 0 0 Totals 32 1 8 1 Totals 24 3 3 3 Hawaii Pacific 000 000 100--1 8 0 Hawaii 000 003 00X--3 3 1E--Nogawa. DP--UH 3 (Nogawa-Dartt-Aloy, Wheeler-Wakakuwa-Aloy, Wheeler-Dartt-Aloy). LOB--HPU 7, UH 3. 2B--Yanagisawa, Wheeler. 3B--Takamori. SH--Takamori, Dartt. SF--Lyons, Nakano.
Hawaii Pacific IP H R ER BB SO Bentley (L 7-2) 8.0 3 3 3 1 5 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Snider (W 2-3) 9.0 8 1 1 1 7WP--Bentley, Snider. HBP--Snider (by Bentley), Gerhardt (by Snider), Baker (by Bentley). Umpires--Frank Tomaszewski (plate), Keoki Torres (first), Guy Ogawa (third). A--2,648 (3,651 tickets issued).
